With the North American Spine Society (NASS) 2022 annual meeting next week in Chicago, anticipation builds to see if some of the top players' product launches are unveiled at the event, including potential new offerings from Medtronic and NuVasive. Meanwhile, SmartTRAK expects to see bright spots from some of the pure-play companies like Centinel, Alphatec and Astura Medical. The event will surely be a pick-me-up from sluggish market performance plagued by budget constraints and supply chain issues. 

Our spine experts will be roaming the floor, bringing our subscribers real-time news direct from the show. We'll also be on the show floor at booth #2341, ready to answer your questions, share insights on the latest in the spine market and discuss how SmartTRAK can help you Be the Expert in your market. To make sure you’re up to speed before the meeting, here is a sample of recent spine news collected and curated by the expert analysts at SmartTRAK. If you would like to book a meeting with us at NASS, please click the button below.

New Products:

• prodisc C* - Centinel Spine*
  

  Centinel Spine announced expansion of the prodisc cTDR portfolio. Currently, Centinel has 510(k) clearance for 1-level indications for prodisc C Vivo, prodisc C SK and prodisc C Nova giving them the broadest global offering in cTDR.

Dr. Kim outlines his extensive experience in adopting endoscopic spine surgery and reflects on barriers to widespread adoption, including the learning curve and reimbursement challenges

Endoscopic and arthroscopic technology has been around for a number of years, aiding surgeons’ visualization to treat patients in much less invasive ways than were previously possible. Prior to the introduction and adoption of these types of technology, surgeons were faced with invasive, more traumatic procedures and sometimes limitations on visualization based on anatomy. Less invasive approaches have allowed patients to benefit from less risk, shorter hospital stays and, in many cases, quicker healing.

Endoscopic approaches to spine surgery have been taking place for 10+ years, but the market hasn’t experienced transformative growth. All the patient benefits align with relative adoption trends, so why haven’t we seen endoscopic spine surgery grow at a similar rate? What does the future look like in this segment? SmartTRAKsat down with minimally invasive spine surgery pioneer Choll Kim, MD, PhD to explore his thoughts on focusing his minimally invasive surgical practice around specific offering of endoscopic spinal techniques, what the pros and cons have been within the adoption curve of the technology and where he thinks the market is headed.

SmartTRAK's spine experts will be roaming the floor at NASS 2022, bringing our subscribers real-time news direct from the show. We'll also be on the show floor at booth #2341, ready to answer your questions, share insights on the latest news and innovations in the Spine Market and discuss how SmartTRAK can help you Be the Expert in your market.  If you would like to book a meeting with us at NASS, please click here.

Continue reading to find out how to download a complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with Dr. Kim.

Q122’s year-over-year growth in the WW Spine market shows normalized, nominal growth for this quarter, which should continue to improve over the course of the remaining year.

The US Spine Hardware market saw double-digit growth versus Q121, showing solid recovery gains from the same period prior year, which seemed to be riddled with ongoing volatility. Segment over segment within the spine market, we’re back to seeing growth in the areas that had been predicable growth segments prior to COVID-19. Although healthcare as a whole continues to rebuild, and staffing remains a challenge, many regions didn’t experience as negative an impact on the Spine market for Q122 as was predicted by many.

Among the many topics covered in detail in our comprehensive Q122 Spine Market Recap* are:

The SmartTRAK team will be attending the upcoming International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) in The Bahamas and we would love to schedule some time to meet. We are particularly excited about this year’s conference program and speakers.

Our team of expert analysts have their finger on the pulse on the spine industry trends, news, financial data and competitor developments. We would like to meet to hear your perspectives and views and discuss how SmartTRAK can help you make more informed strategic business decisions.

Watch the video below to meet Courtney Sheedy, SmartTRAK's GM, Spine

Set up a time to meet with us  at ISASS 2022

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We are pleased to announce that Tracey Clarke has joined the team at SmartTRAK as our new Account Manager, Customer Success. Tracey has 20+ years experience in the Print and Digital Communications industry, including roles as a Client Relations Manager and IT Project Manager at Broadridge Customer Communications and DST Output LTD.

Meet Tracey Clarke:

What is your role with SmartTRAK? I am an Account Manager on the newly established Customer Success team.

What do you like about SmartTRAK? This is an exciting time to be starting at SmartTRAK. There are many positive changes happening and I am enjoying the opportunity to see the outcome. I feel very fortunate to be with a company that helps others Be the Expert.

We are pleased to announce that Courtney Sheedy has joined the team at SmartTRAK as our new General Manager, Spine. Courtney has 15+ years of Global Marketing and Product Development experience dedicated to the spinal medical device market serving in leadership roles for companies like Zimmer Biomet, Alphatec, Corelink and joimax.

Meet Courtney Sheedy:

What is your role with SmartTRAK? General Manager, Spine

What do you like about SmartTRAK? I’m fortunate to have been a user of SmartTRAK for many years prior to joining the ranks as a GM. I love how dynamic the SmartTRAK platform is. For Marketing and Business Development teams to be able to access real-time market information to guide their pipeline planning and day-to-day marketing strategies is one of the most unique and beneficial attributes. I also love how user-friendly the platform is. As a former marketer, I loved the ability to export data files for direct use.

Covid-related challenges continued to dampen market recovery in Q321. Despite pandemic hurdles, technology that improves surgical precision and real-time workflows is driving adoption and innovation in computer-assisted spine surgery and accelerating the development of products and systems.

Many companies with established enabling technologies are pushing to expand indications for existing systems and bolster them with robust preoperative planning, enhanced navigation and post-op evaluation solutions for start-finish integration within a single line of products. Meanwhile, other players are focusing on open-platform solutions to address care gaps for specific procedures and populations. At the forefront of industry research and development are artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies to aid in imaging, planning and navigation assistance (robotic-assisted and freehand). 

Enabling tech continued to assist above-market growth in Q221 with continued demand for spine robotics and navigation systems. New developments in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and smart instruments continue to push the envelope in the spine space.

The WW Spine CAS market, the US Spine Robotics market and the US Spine Navigation market were all up significantly in Q221 according to SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard. Medtronic* (MDT) remained the market leader with > 50% share, followed by Globus* (GMED) and other enabling tech competitors including Brainlab*, DePuy Synthes* (JNJ) and Stryker* (SYK). For detailed Q221 revenues and shares by company in the US, EU and ROW, see the SmartTRAK CAS Spine Financial Dashboard*. 

Among the many topics, including company revenues, market shares, charts and expert analysis, covered in the comprehensive Q221 CAS Spine Market Recap* are:

We are looking to strengthen our SmartTRAK Spine module with the addition of a qualified person with industry specific experience. All SmartTRAK analysts are former marketing, business development or R&D professionals with one of the major orthopedic/spine suppliers and, in fact, most have come to us via recommendations from our subscribers, as well as those in the industry. We believe that having a person of this caliber with relevant experience and deep insight on the market is a tremendous value-add we can offer SmartTRAK subscribers.

We are looking for person with Spine industry experience who is interested in working approximately 20 hours per week. We would also consider a person who would like to work full-time.Ideally, this person has:

• Deep knowledge of the spine market, especially spine hardware
• Strong communication skills, especially writing
• Good analytical skills and experience with forecasting
• Attention to Detail
• Extensive contacts in the industry with both companies and clinicians

This is a great position for an experienced person who wants to remain in the game but wishes to work part-time.

The US Spine market appears to be continuing on a skyward trajectory...but what’s really on the horizon for Spine?

With Q221 year-over-year growth up almost 46%, the US Spine market appears to be continuing on a skyward trajectory. However, as compared to Q219, Q221 saw growth of only +1.3%, reflecting ongoing COVID challenges. What’s really on the horizon for Spine? While the first half of 2021 has certainly looked much brighter than 2020, one big question remains: how big of an impact will the Delta variant surge have on the back half of the year?

Among the many topics covered in detail in our comprehensive Q221 Spine Market Recap* are: